SpaceX recently tested its Grasshopper rocket at a personal record altitude of 1066 feet where it hovered for a few moments before coming back down for a successful recovery landing. The rocket made a first-use of its navigation sensor suite during this flight in order to accomplish its successful precision landing.

Three planets have been discovered in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist in the nearby star-system, Gliese 667, only 22.1 light years away. This discovery makes these three planets candidates for the presence of life. This also means that with interstellar technologies (i.e. NASA Eagleworks' warp field) currently being developed we could launch a mission to these potentially habitable planets by the end of the century, and the trip would only take a few years.